Psalms of Planets Eureka SeveN New Order
by Johnathon Cortez
Summary: The battle for the Scubs rages. Dewey's forces, and the rebels among the Gekko-State and the Super-Izumo fight on for their beliefs. However, while this story is being written, another is blossoming in Warsaw. It is about a violet-eyed Boy who has been asleep for ages, given a new chance at life. Will he be able to learn from the people around him, and live his life happily?
1. Shout to the Top-Hurry Up

Episode 1: "Shout to the Top! /Hurry Up, We're Dreaming", or "Will I Ever Be Able to Wake from the Dream?"

Warsaw

The Boy kept sleeping in the darkness, unable to move. He did not have any idea of how long it was since he had last been awake. The darkness dulled the senses, shrouding the Boy's sense of time. Has it been days, weeks, months, or perhaps years? The Boy has no way of knowing. He has been alone all this time, abandoned by his kin. He knew not of why he was alone, but he could still feel the pain that his kin felt; somewhere they were being attacked and killed. The pain was great in magnitude, as if he was being deconstructed, physically and spiritually. The pain was too great, and the darkness was beginning to unveil. A cold light shone down him, lighting a path through the shroud, and the Boy desperately reached for the light's source. A swarm of arms pulsated from the newly lit abyss and made their attempts to drag the boy back to eternal darkness. The Boy, struggling as hard as he could to break free from the swarm's grip, felt one hand take his. It shone like a star, burning away the swarm and freeing the Boy; pulling him up from his abyss and his long sleep. The Boy slowly opened his eyes, feeling a great chill. He noticed the fragments of ice on the dermis of his arms. He also noticed a strange sensation at the end of his arm, at his hand. No, in his hand? He slowly looked to the source of the sensation and saw that the pale hand that saved him in his dream was still holding him. The owner of that hand, a young woman in her adolescence; the boy thought that perhaps she was the same age as himself. She had pale porcelain yet tan skin and was wearing nothing unfortunately. She had light blue hair, which complemented her violet-pinkish eyes, and made her striking.

"Good Morning", she greeted him.

Her pinkish violet eyes met his. She continued her gaze with a smile, unchanging and waiting for a response from him. Her eyes peered through his entire being. The Boy was afraid, unable to speak to his supposed savior. She had an eerie calmness to her, as if nothing could startle her. She was a portrait of a being, perfectly made or shaped. She had a glow to her, perhaps it was because the Boy's eyes were still adjusting to the light, but she glowed to him. In her other hand, her left one, was clutched to her chest, and in between her chest and her hand she had a small book. It was a little bigger than her hand, and from what the boy could tell, it seemed to be a plain book.

"You woke up just in the nick of time, you have just enough time to enjoy your last moments of existence," she said matter of factly.

A scream broke from far outside the room they were in. It sounded male in origin, most likely from an older person.

"What's going on here? They should all be under Desperation Disease. Why are they doing about? Where did their Compac Drives go?"

In addition, he heard the laughing and giggling of young women. It frightened him, for he did not understand why they were laughing. Then he heard a series of loud noises as if something was popping or exploding, and then it and the laughing stopped, as suddenly as it began.

The Boy was finally out of his groggy state and noticed that he was in a box, on the inside was a formation of chill and frost like that which was on his arms. He realized he must have been put under in some sort of frozen state. Again, his eyes met hers, and fear began to rise from his very being. There was something else as well, curiosity? No, that wasn't quite it. Was it guilt, perhaps a sense of nostalgia? He stepped out slightly, he had no clothing on him, and again he felt a great chill.

"Well, before it all ends and we all go away, I can leave you with a parting gift. After all, no one should die without receiving one of these," she said as she placed her lips on the Boy's lips. She pierced his closed lips with her tongue and gave him a deep kiss. The boy broke away in fear.

"Who is this girl? What is she doing? Why… Why am I so afraid of her?" He thought.

"What's the matter? You don't like me?"

"What do you mean, what is going to end?"

"Oh, you don't know? The world is changing, the foolish ones believe they can reject and destroy the Coralions, but now they are paying for that mistake."

The Boy's eyes furrowed as she said that alien word. It resonated with him, yet he knew not why it did so.

"What are Coralions?" He asked very seriously.

Just as he asked, a violent tremor shook whatever facility they were in. The box's restraints broke and began to topple onto the floor, about to trample the Boy. Fortunately, the Girl pulled him away in time.

"I've extended your life for another short period of time, now you owe me another kiss," she said calmly.

"Kiss? Extended? Wait, how long do we have?"

"I don't know. It could be seconds, minutes. But it will all end soon."

The Boy, after being asleep in that box for who knows how long, did not want it all to end so soon after waking. He tied his shoulder length violet hair in a ponytail, to keep it from blinding him soon. He took her hand, though he did not know why, and pulled her along outside the room. He didn't know why he was practically dragging her along. Perhaps, he wanted to repay his debt to her, for both saving her from his nearly eternal sleep and from being trampled, or perhaps it was that something else he felt. All he knew for sure is that he did not want to die here, and he did not want her to die either.

The two of them filed quickly through corridors that all looked the same, while a loud alarm began to blare throughout the compound. He had no idea where to go, but he knew where to avoid. He could hear gunshots echoing from some areas and screaming in varying levels of intensity accompanying them. After a short, yet, frantic period, he came across a room that looked very much like a hospital ward. However, now it looked gruesome as there were many young women around the age of the one that freed him, all splattered in varying positions across the room and its floors. It seemed all had been shot to death, their collective blood turning what was a pure white tile floor into a checkerboard of red and white. They all had books, the same model as the other Girl, and they weren't too far from their owners' bodies. However, the Boy could hear, or perhaps better put, sense some were still alive. Two were. They were under the bodies of others, hidden. They were barely alive and were badly hurt. One was bleeding profusely from a gunshot in her stomach. The other from several shots across her left arm and leg.

"This is our fate I'm afraid, whether it be by the gun or by the Scubs, we will all end up dead", the Girl said solemnly, as if revealing her disappointment and discarded hope.

The Boy fell to his knees and attempted to stop the bleeding for the girl with a gunshot in her stomach. He felt despair, being unable to save himself or any of these girls. He felt it was cruel for him to have woken up if this was going to be his reality. He began to cry, though he knew not why.

"Is this the human emotion of Sadness? Is this what I was meant to learn?" He thought, "No, I don't want this. I don't want to die here. I don't want it to end so soon. I just woke up, I never got to experience humanity, I never even found my partner, I don't even remember why I was locked away. This isn't fair."

He yelled a cry of desperation and sadness. He felt the destruction of hope. But as if to add insult to injury, another tremor shook the building, though this one was less powerful than the one before and felt to have originated from a closer area.

"Why do you keep attempting to help that girl. She's going to die no matter what. We all are," the Girl asked solemnly.

"I have to do something. I must. I don't want it all to end here. Please help me. The other one, she's going to die as well if you don't help her."

"But there is no point to it. We are all going to die here."

"But I don't want that. I want to change that," the Boy said desperately.

Just as he finished saying that, a loud crash was heard emanating from the upper levels and was getting closer. As if by some miracle, the end of the room in front of the small group collapsed as a giant machine crashed down and opened the place up to the outside world. It was a KLF, a mainly blue machine with silver highlights, with a head whose sensor made it look as a cross between a cyclops and a camera.

"A Monsoon-o KLF," said the Girl, with a variable of hope beginning to emerge in her voice.

The KLF reached its arm out towards them, beckoning them towards it.

"Help me carry these two", the Boy asked the Girl.

"Alright".

The cockpit was surprisingly empty yet still was a tight fit for all four of them. The fact that they were all smaller than the intended pilot helped them. The problems were that neither of the two that would be able to pilot knew how to.

"We got our Hope up for nothing," said the Girl.

"No that isn't true," the Boy cried, and then he begged the machine as if to reach out to a heart that shouldn't be there, "Please, you managed to get here on your own, help us out of here, please tell me what I can do."

There was no initial response. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The Girl turned away, she couldn't face the Boy. The two injured girls next to her were writhing in pain. The boy began to cry as he saw this.

"Please," he began to plead once more, "PLEASE".

As if responding to his heart the cockpit began to glow green, beginning with the displays and then the whole of it followed. On the displays, a message appeared.

"Welcome Back Yew".

The KLF closed its cockpit doors and launched with a wave of rainbow energy propelling it high to the skies. In the sky, the Boy could see a multitude of meteors and debris headed towards the facility.

"We need to go faster," the Boy Begged the machine, "We need to get away from here."

The machine listened and flew faster to the point where the velocity began to hurt those inside it. They were far enough from the immediate danger, but when those meteors finally hit the ground, a large shockwave emanated from the impact point. It hit the lone KLF hard, and it began to spin out of control. It's Lift Board, the device an LFO or KLF uses for propulsion, was damaged severely.

"No, we were almost there, almost safe", the Boy cried.

The machine responded again, and seven pillars of light surged around the machine, and engulfed it in a blinding light.

"What… What's Happening", the Boy and the Girl yelled.

The white light began to engulf the cockpit. It was swallowing up the four of them.

"I told you, this is our fate", the Girl said to the Boy before she was completely overtaken.

As the light engulfed him as well, a voice inside the Boy reassured him that they were not to die just yet. The Boy opened his eyes and saw himself in the light. His pink eyes, with a ring around his iris, met his reflection's.

"Not yet," his reflection said, "Not yet".

With those final words, the Boy lost consciousness.

The flying warships, the Gekko and the Izumo, flew together over the skies near the Tien Shan Mountains, where their grand enemy Colonel Dewey had used the Federation Orbital Microwave cannon, the Oratorio number 8, to blast into the mountains. The power of the microwave beam from the canon had overpowered it, causing the machine to self-destruct. The debris was expected to fall to where the mountains were, but instead, some force pulled them out of orbit, causing them to hit many of the Tower States.

"The falling debris targeted the Towers? That's impossible!" Holland questioned Jurgens over the communications line. The rest of the Gekko-State crew had a look of shock dressed on their faces.

"No impossibilities about it!" Jurgens exclaimed seriously, "I'll send you the data right now, take a look!"

As soon as he finished talking, the data did in fact show up on the Gekko monitor Holland was using.

"Of the 157 Towers left standing, 31 were destroyed by direct impact of the Debris!"

Jurgens could only see Holland and Gidget's expressions of shock, the two closest to the monitor screen.

"But that's… A thing like that couldn't possibly happen!" Holland denied.

"No!", interjected Woz, "I think they're right. I've compared the values with calculations from the central systems. Right when they entered the Trapar layer, all of the debris radically changed their trajectory angles. If Dr Bear's Hypothesis is correct, the Scub Corals can significantly change the laws of physics by force of will. And if that's the case- "

"Are you saying that all of this was caused by the Scub Corals?!" Holland asked Woz.

"I have one more bit of bad news," Jurgens said over the Line.

"What?"

"A hole's been created in the Tien Shan Mountains."

Maria Schneider., Jurgen's vice-captain, brought footage up over the monitor.

"This is footage obtained by hacking into the military observation satellite, Hummingbird. The Tien Shan Mountains has had a cave in 100 kilometers in diameter. We have found a space in the cave in that's impossible to analyze. We believe that this space has something to do with the microwave weaponry that is currently raining down as debris."

"There you have it, you want to tell me what the hell is going on Holland?" Jurgans yelled over the Line.

"Dammit," Holland yelled as he slammed his fist onto the metal of Gidget's station as well as cutting off the Line, "Dewey had this as part of his plan. He took out Renton's group along with the central core of the Scub Corals."

"That hasn't been determined yet," chimed Talho Yuki, Holland's lover, "I don't know about you, but I am not giving up hope! Even in a situation as bad as this, we can't just walk away. We can't!"

"Yeah, I know that," Holland acknowledged solemnly, "Alright, contact the Crew aboard the Izumo, tell them to get ready. On my order, we will attempt to dive directly into the Tien Shan Mountains!"

"Right!" responded his crew.

Some time later, the boy awoke inside the KLF. Again, the Same Girl's eyes peered into his.

"So, you're awake. I woke up a little earlier than you."

"What happened?"

"We're alive, thanks to you."

"We are?"

"Well… We are. Unfortunately, we lost the other two."

The boy looked over to them. They appeared to be asleep. He put his hand over their faces, to see if they were breathing. They weren't. The blood that had poured all over the cockpit was completely dry, as well as the blood from their wounds. They must have been unconscious for a while. Somehow, they were fine, the Boy rationalized that somehow that white light somehow saved him and the Girl who approached him.

"No. No…"

The Boy and the Girl stepped outside the KLF, which was in its vehicle form. The land around them had reduced the area once known as Warsaw into nothing, even more so than it already was; a land of debris and rubble, a new desert to join those that were located near the equator. Then He noticed that he was extremely cold and noticed that he lacked something he noticed that his captors had themselves, clothing. He now knew of clothing's purpose, and silently wished he had more on. He looked down at himself; only a thin pair of briefs covered him. He then noticed that his companion was ever more unfortunate, having nothing to cover her.

He took a look inside the KLF to find anything that could be of use to shield themselves from the winds. He came across a medium sized box, as well as the KLF pilot's suit. He offered it to the Girl, which she rejected.

"I'm not a pilot, it would be better for you to wear it," she said while still fighting the cold.

Instead they opened the box, to seek an alternative for her. Inside was a moderate blanket, along with some general first aid items like bandages, gauze, and antibiotics, as well as some rations and matches. She took the blanket to cover herself, thanking him.

She took the matches but realized that there was nothing they could use to sustain a fire.

"What are we going to do?" she asked him.

He looked at her, unable to answer. The Boy didn't know what they could do. He hadn't planned everything out, he only wanted them to live. The sun was setting, and it was going to get colder. There was a silence between them.

"I don't know. I don't know what to do," he said finally answering her, "I don't know what we should do for those Two,".

He looked back to the KLF cockpit. Still inside were the bodies of the other two girls. The Girl had a forlorn look on her face, she felt pity for her fellow research subjects.

"We should bury them, give them a place so they could properly rest", she told him.

"How, why?" He genuinely did not understand.

She gave him a puzzled look, unable to understand his statement.

"Just follow my instructions," and she explained to him what they could do.

Following her words, The Boy took to the KLF, using it to dig holes for the two perished girls, to give them some sort of a burial. He filled in their graves. He set the machine back into its vehicle form and stepped out.

"Did I do it correctly?" He asked innocently.

"Yes," she said assuredly, "At least they have a sort of a proper burial, even if the graves are unmarked."

"Is that customarily what humans do when another human expires?" the Boy asked.

The Girl now realized what he was, and why he was peculiar. He was one of those she was meant to become a replicant of.

"Yes," she said calmly. She reasoned that he must not have learned much of Humanity, having been locked away in that cell of his. She decided that she must teach him what she could before they perished, based on her memories of her past life as a human. She would teach him all she could, until they both died to exposure or starvation, whichever came first.

The Boy shivered. He had his pilot suit on, but that could only do so much. She felt the wind pierce her blanket as well. As warm as it was, the winds were to strong. The aftermath of the Previous catastrophe, which would be later known as the Second Summer of Love was still in effect. And even though the world had been saved, the Boy and the Girl were not out of the clear yet.

"Come on, we'll be safe from the wind in the LFO," she told him, and led him into the machine.

The Boy sat in the cockpit, while the Girl had to hold onto him. The Monsoon-o had seats for only one pilot, and space barely enough to have held the four of them originally. There was another awkward silence. The Boy had no idea of what to say, and the Girl had no idea where to start. Well, that was not necessarily true. She had one idea, however, she felt that she already knew the answer. She might as well begin.

"Do you have a name?"

The boy thought about it for a short while. His eyes began to dart away from her, and he began to panic. His eyes began to furrow.

"No, I… I don't know," he said worriedly, "Is it bad that I do not have a name?"

"No. Not at all. No one ever thought to give you one. It isn't your fault. We'll find one for you. One that fits."

"Do you have a name?" He asked curiously.

"I used to. My name was Anya."

"Was?"

"I am no longer the same person I once was."

"I do not understand. Did you change?"

She remembered the horrible sensation of her body and mind being ripped apart by that cruel machine. It tore at her molecularly, and at one point she remembered having died because of the Warsaw research staff's experiments on her and her fellow test subjects. She had indeed changed; she no longer was human. She something else. She was like him now. She even looked similar to his kind now, the Humanoid Coralian. That isn't correct either she thought, she wasn't just similar, she was one of them now, thanks to those horrible people.

"Yes, I have changed. I am no longer who I used to be."

"How so?"

Her face twisted; sadness came over the Girl who was once known as Anya. The Boy saw, and somehow, he understood that perhaps he should not have asked.

"It was painful, I don't think I could talk about it yet."

"Alright."

"What about you? Do you remember anything prior to being locked away in that freezer-box?"

The boy thought about it. He tried to focus. He felt that he had been asleep for a long time, he did not know exactly how long, and all his memories was a blur. Images came to mind, but the swarm of dark arms rose again in his mind. He shivered.

"I remember some things, not anything substantial yet. Everything is a mess. I remember, a mine? A hospital table? A giant of stone surrounded by water and light is the most concrete memory. That, and A girl that looked like you. That's all."

The Girl once known as Anya wondered if she was the girl she was meant to replace, or the girl she was meant to replicate initially.

"Well, that's okay. You don't need all of your memories. We won't be living long enough for you to remember them anyways," she said while looking up to the sky, "The Scubs only brought me back for so long, just so I could fulfill my last wish, to see the sky once more before the world ended".

The Boy took her words in, and a dour expression laid across his face.

"I no longer hear them, I can no longer hear the Scubs. Something happened to them. The Limit must have been reached, the Limit of Questions. That must be, why I awoke, why I sense that the worst has not passed."

"You're correct," she said with her own sorrowful expression, "Before the Scubs went silent, they sent me back for, besides my last wish, to also see the end as it will pass. It seems their last hope failed, and that the Limit is going to be reached."

"I don't want this to be the end, I just woke up after being asleep for who knows how long… I don't want this to be the end," the Boy said sadly.

"I'm sorry, but this is the end. The Scubs have already decided."

The Boy did not wish to accept this. He looked at the KLF that saved them. It suffered quite some damage; the ref board had been completely ruined, the head's monitor completely cracked open with the optical lenses dangling off of it, and the right arm looked limp. However, as he knew from earlier, it was still usable. He boarded the machine.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Opening the cockpit, the boy then looked at her.

"I don't want this to be the end. I don't think you want it to be the end either."

"It doesn't matter what I want it to be. It will be the end nonetheless."

"Not if you do something about," he said, reaching out to her with his hand forward, "Come with me, please".

Another silence fell upon the two. She looked at him, not with a face of sorrow, but of wonder. The Scubs never told her that He had a will. She thought, as she was told, he was a blank slate like the other two. She was only to be his release from a stateless existence before the End. He was actively rebelling his fate. She couldn't help but smile.

"Sure, why not. Let's see the possibilities you can make".

The two entered the machine together. The Boy sat in his pilot's seat, the Girl put her arms around him from behind, and held on for dear life.

"What do I call you?" He asked.

She did not expect him to ask that. She had no real answer.

"You said that you had changed, so I can't call you by your old name. So, what do I call you?"

She took a pause, and finally decided.

"Call me Anya".

"I thought-"

"Please, call me Anya, just once more," she said as she tightened her hold around his waist, and buried her face into his shoulder.

"Ok. Let's go Anya."

He commanded the machine to fold into itself, transforming it into its vehicle mode, and drove off towards the world, seeking their future.

"To be continued."


	2. Intimacy

Episode 2: "Intimacy", or, "May Lovers Will Contort Me in Ways I Could Never Dream Of"

The Boy, and the Girl who wished to be called Anya, drove across the desert wastelands. It was kilometers and kilometers and ever more many kilometers of reddish-brown rocks and fleeting life. They were very far from Warsaw, but still in the middle of nowhere. They were running out of rations and water, and Anya was losing hope again. They had been driving for what seemed to them about two weeks now, they had made great and startling progress as they were hundreds of kilometers away from where they had started, but they had not found any signs of civilizations except for a few ruined cities and towns where there had been no one. Luckily, they found some supplies in the rubble, some tinned foods and torn and dirty clothing that was still usable.

"It doesn't seem like there are any more ruins for a while. And this little one," she said s she placed her hand on the KLF, "doesn't seem like he can push much further."

The Boy focused on his driving.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know. I didn't plan this," the Boy responded.

"We're running out of food, and we definitely don't have enough water. This little one won't be able to ferry us forever. What do you want to do?"

The boy stopped the KLF.

He turned to her, beginning to tear up inside his Pilot's helmet, however she would not be able to see those tears.

"I… want us to live. I don't know how to guarantee that, but I want it all the same."

"I understand, and I would like that very much, but I don't think it will be happening," Anya said.

"You don't know that," he said as he turned away frustratedly.

"That said, I still want to thank you. You've done so much. You saved me, when I initially thought it was all going to end. I even did some embarrassing things with you because I thought it would be the end," she said, covering her cheeks and looking away to hide their rosiness, "I don't regret those things. Not at all. So, thank you".

"It's not over. Why are you saying things, that sound so final?"

"Because it seems like the end, yet again."

"Last time you said it was the end as well, but yet here we are, alive."

Anya could not refute that fact.

"You were able to defy fate. I believe the Scubs allowed you to change your fate. I don't see it happening again."

"It could happen. It will happen."

Anya gave him a look of sympathy. She truly felt his desperation, and yet she could not believe in his convictions. She had suffered too much to ever believe in anything again. She held a tighter grip to his waist and buried her face into the back of his shoulders. She could smell the grime and sweat he had accumulated in their time together in this machine. She didn't mind however, it brought comfort to her.

"Well, if you can do something about it, do it then. I won't hold my breath for a miracle. I just want… I just want to enjoy my last moments with you," she whispered softly.

The Boy sadly looked out to his KLF displays. He did not want these to be his last moments either. He wanted to live, to truly live. To experience the world and its beauty. He started the KLF again.

"Hey, so what do I call you?"

"I don't know. I never had a name to begin with. At, least, from what little I remember."

"What was it that this little one called you, when you first activated it?"

"It called me, 'Yew'," he said questioningly, "But I don't know who that is."

"That's you, Yew," she said, beginning to laugh.

"I don't understand."

"This little one gave you a name, you're Yew," she said giggling again.

He didn't understand, not the name of course, he accepted it and didn't mind being referred to by it; no, he was more confused by why she made that reaction. He didn't know what to call it. But he was relieved to see her no longer being in despair.

She kissed his neck, startling him and in reaction he jerked the controls, causing the KLF to stutter. She kissed him again, this time he did not jerk the controls.

"Is it too early," she said wistfully, "To say that I love you?"

"I don't know what that is. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, you'll learn what love means one day."

The two continued driving off into the desert wasteland, under the fleeting sun. The moon had finally begun to poke out from its daytime rest, showing its declaration of love-engraved-face and shining down it's radiant light on those two.

One Week Later

The wastelands came to an end. In their sights, were the bases of a mountain ranges. Finally, a change of scenery for the two, the Boy now known as Yew, and the Girl known as Anya. A childlike wonder came over Yew, ecstatic to no longer stare at an endless desert. Perhaps they could find some sense of civilization there. It had been some time since they left Warsaw. By now, the two could agree that it felt like it had been a month, at minimum. They were beginning to waste away. Anya became thinner, and dark circles surrounded her eyes. Yew looked likewise, though he was even more emaciated, as he had been trying to give most of his share to her. She would refuse initially but ended up taking what he would give to her. This almost backfired, as Yew began to lose consciousness at the KLF's helm and nearly swerved and flipped it over, if he had not woken up in time to correct himself. He began taking his full portions. But, by now, they had finally run out of their rations. It was meant for only one person to survive on. This was a truly desperate situation.

"Look Anya, look," he said excitedly, "We're finally out of the desert!?"

"That's good," she rasped, "but, I don't think there's going to be anything of use there. It's over."

"Well, what if there is?"

"Well, I hope there is. I don't think either of us can last much longer like this."

What she said was true. Their bodies, already in bad condition, could not take any more malnourishment. They had become fragile. The both of them felt that even a light breeze could snuff out their lives.

"If only, this little one had its lift board. We would have been in a better situation," she said solemnly.

"It will be fine," Yew said, "We will be alright".

She did not respond. Her arms loosened around his waist.

"Anya?"

Again, she did not respond.

"Anya please."

No matter how much he begged, she could not respond.

"Anya… Anya… Anya…," he cried, "AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAA!"

The KLF's Compaq drive resonated with his will, and so, the archetype inside the machine and the Trapars responded as well. The half-broken machine began to somewhat patch itself up slightly and used the Trapars to propel itself across the sky. Anya began to open her eyes, and through the monitors, could see the brilliant green waves the particles made.

"Beautiful".

The Monsoon-o flew across the sky, clearing such a large distance that would normally take days to cross, and doing so now in minutes. They were now overhead the mountains, but there was no river.

"It seems there isn't anything here we can use", Anya said sadly, "It seem we wasted your last bit of inspiration".

"We aren't stopping here!"

"What!?"

Sure enough, the KLF did not stop. It kept flying, fast and true. How Yew felt now, he could keep flying forever. However, he caught a glimpse of something. A building? There was something in the mountains, he couldn't make it out exactly through his monitor, but… his memory began to fill him in.

Terror filled his eyes, his soul, his heart. He recognized it.

"What's wrong?" Anya asked worriedly, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Its… that place… no it can't be," he denied his eyes closed.

However, when he opened his eyes again, whatever he saw was not there again.

"That's impossible…" Yew said in disbelief.

"What did you see?"

"I, I thought I saw my past."

"Your past?"

At that exchange, a white light appeared in front of them. Emanating from the heavens, it beamed down into a cylindrical or polar form, and then it struck out to them. The white light pierced the KLF, then it spread all over it, consuming it like a hungry snake.

"It seems that I am to be truly thankful yet again," Anya said whilst crying as she took in the beauty of the light," Your Light of Possibility, Yew!"

Somehow, when both Yew and Anya woke, they noticed that they were somehow still alive. Leaving the machine, they would see that the KLF had landed right next to a large pond at the end of a large river. It looked beautiful, sparkling under the sun like a sea of jewels. As if by divine intervention, the water was the clearest they could have ever dreamed of. The thirsty adolescents took to it like ravenous animals, putting their full heads under water, wiping their faces, and letting the cool water embrace them. Anya playfully splashed water at Yew, who did not understand why, eventually retaliated in kind. The two played in the water like small children, overjoyed at this semblance of hope. Halfway submerged, the two embraced each other. Anya cried into Yew's chest, relieved that they weren't fated to die. Yew, able to understand somewhat embraced her as well, relived that they were allowed to remain alive, together.

Yew sat in the cockpit, trying to get the Monsoon-o to move, but it would not respond. Besides the lack of power in the machine, the archetype itself was unresponsive, and he could not sense it. He wondered if it was sleeping, resting from the miracles it performed for him and Anya.

Speaking of Anya, she was bathing, or at least that is what she called it, in the pond. Yew decided to leave her to her bathing, as he wanted to give her a sort of gift. He had found a small shell, pretty in a white-and-pink blended color. He did not know why he wanted to give it to her, but something inside him thought that if he did, she would feel happy. Or, at the very least, appreciate the color. His cheeks turned to a similar shade as the shell as he thought this.

Interrupting his adolescent moment, a pang of hunger brought him to reality. They had satisfied their thirst with this pond, but neither of them knew how to catch or prepare game. If they attempted to follow the river connected to the pond, they could possibly find a town or city, ruined or not, with food. Otherwise, they would have to learn how to prepare food soon.

He took a look toward the pond and saw Anya wading in the water. He reasoned that she must be enjoying her bath due to the long period of time she had spent doing so. He wanted to bath as well, whatever it was exactly; he knew that he was grimy and sweaty from having only his pilot's suit to wear for weeks on end. She had taken it from Yew, telling him that she would clean it for him for later use. He thought that perhaps that is what she was doing. He wanted to remove the filth off him if that was what she meant. However, he wasn't sure how to do so. Looking for an example, he kept looking at Anya, to see what she did to bath.

He was unable to fully understand by watching her, the sight confused him so. She would dive under the water, come up for air, and then shrug the water off. He wasn't even sure that she was still bathing. Then he saw that her staring back, her violet eyes piercing through his soul. He was now suddenly afraid but did not know why. It was the same fear he felt when they first locked eyes, when he first met her, when she freed him from his icy prison. He was afraid of losing her.

She made a gesture with her arm, extending towards him and pulling back in a wading movement. Yew broke out of his worry with a puzzled look. He didn't know what it meant. Did she want him to go over to where she was, did she want him to look away? And why would she make that gesture.

Anya realized that he didn't understand what she wanted, and he wouldn't get off his KLF just be continuing to call to him.

"Yew come here!" she called.

Yew, now understanding what she wanted, gave a few gentle pats to the KLF, and jumped out of the cockpit, and off the machine. His ear-length violet hair swayed just the tiniest bit. He walked towards the pond, not more than 30 feet away, and stopped at the small shore.

"Why were you staring at me?" Anya asked calmly.

"Why?" Yew pondered his response for a short while, "Well, I didn't know what you meant by bathing. I don't know what that is. So, I wanted to learn by your example, but I guess I didn't learn anything at all."

"Oh, that's all," Anya said a little disappointedly and then her cheeks began to take a rosier complexion, "Well, by looking at me, it wouldn't help you much. When I said I was going to take a bath, I hadn't realized that there wasn't any soap or shampoo to wash myself with, I… uh… I decided to just play, around, in, the water."

She said so with almost a childish demeanor, evidently embarrassed having been caught wading in the water so childishly.

"Oh, so you weren't bathing?" Yew said disappointed as well, and his cheeks also becoming rosier," I want to know how to bathe."

These words came out sheepishly, and Anya began to giggle, smiling. Yew was confused, and felt slightly awkward, yet he did not know how to put it into his words.

"Did I say something strange?"

"Yes, yes you did, but don't worry about it," she giggled out, and then began composing herself, "Sometimes I forget just how new you must feel, how confused you must get. You'll probably have a lot of questions about things along the journey we'll take together. Well, I did promise you that I'd teach you about being human, about being what I once was."

She stood up, revealing the water to only go up to where her belly button. At least it was where she was, about 15 feet away. The water dripped off her pale blue hair and onto her tan and porcelain body, making it shine like a distant star. She walked towards him, the water line lowering and revealing more of her celestial body. She stopped a few feet away from him, and held out her hand, wanting him to take it.

Somewhere deep inside himself, he thought maybe it was in his chest at one point, a budding and unknown feeling attacked him. He felt it would consume him.

"Come, take my hand", she said and smiled warmly, "I'll teach you a great many things, this will just have to be one of those things."

He moved his right arm, and took her hand in his, but he still felt something. A feeling that made him feel reluctant to taking her hand. She guided him a little further, to a point where they could still sit down, and the water would not reach more than navels. She had him sit in front of her, facing away.

"If we had some soap, this is where I would begin washing your back," she said tenderly as she cupped water above his back and then released it so that it would flow against his pale skin, "to wash yourself, you would take some soap and rub it, using your hands, on every part of your body to cleanse yourself of the filth you have gathered up throughout the day."

"I see," he said, thankful that she could not see his reddening face.

"But since we don't have any on us, it is a little harder and less effective.," she said as she began rubbing from his shoulders toward his arms, "but nonetheless, we have to work with what we are given with."

She began cupping water again in her hands, this time pouring it over Yew's head so that all of his ear-length magenta hair was soaked.

"If we had some shampoo, you would use it to scrub your hair," she explained as her thin and tender fingers ran through his hair, "the purpose? To get all the dirt and sweat out, and to leave your hair smelling like strawberries, since that is what your hair color sometimes reminds me of."

She teased him a bit, shaking his hair slightly. Yew was more concerned of what a strawberry was to notice he was blushing profusely. However, that would not be the end of it. She then put her arms around his shoulders and chest, and pulled him closer from behind, so that her chest was pressed against his back. At this point, Yew's insides felt as if they were going to explode from that unknown feeling. He wasn't sure if it was happiness, fear, or something else, perhaps it was some concoction of all. He wasn't sure what to call this feeling, but an image came to his mind. An image of plain black book, whose pages were all filled with tiny drawings of cartoonish hearts.

At this moment, several sky-fish landed on the disrepaired KLF, the Compac Drive inside the KLF began to glow pink, and a violet cartoon heart began to shine from the device in repeated intervals. The machine knew what it had to do, and began sending out an emergency distress signal, its mission complete and it's time for temporary rest was earned.

"Anya," Yew said in barely audible voice.

"Yes?"

"What is this feeling, that's swelling inside of me?"

"Do you know what love is?" she asked.

"Love?"

She did not respond, and he did not push any further. But he thought he had an idea of what "love" meant. So, the two of them stayed together like that, holding each other, until the water became too cold.

A Week Later

"Captain Nita, Captain Nita!" a male voice shouted as its owner banged on the captain's door, aboard his Ship, the Gjallerhorn.

The door opened, revealing the two; one, a younger man and low-ranking soldier with short brown hair and olive skin tone and green eyed, and two, an older looking gentleman of a higher rank with receding grey hair, a sharply trimmed beard, and a milky skin tone with hazel eyes.

"Yes, what is it, what is so important you have to wake up a middle-aged man from his nap?" Yawned the Captain known as Nita, as he grumpily rubbed his eyes away of sleep.

"Sir," the younger and lower ranked officer saluted, "They are having another emergency summit again, they are calling for higher ranking officers, you included!"

The older man sighed.

"These Young'un's can't decide what to do, that they have to bother old men like me for help."

"Sir, if I may add- "

"No, you may not- "

"You're only fifty-five-".

"And I've told you I don't like being reminded. That civil war all those years ago, it's aged me to the point I can't even enjoy my middle age, it's like I'm in my twilight years."

"I'm sorry sir."

The old man sighed again.

"Don't worry about it. Just don't do it again Private Alains. Alright, come along."

"Sir?" Questioned private Alains.

"To the summit. You don't expect an old man to go alone? I might get lost."

Alains managed an awkward laugh.

"What a mess this has been. I was even dragged out of retirement. All just for the attempt to bring the Federation and the State armies away from this PR fiasco," Nita exclaimed as the two of them walked together, "Can't say I can fully blame them. From what I hear, that Dewey fellow was a cunning and charming snake."

"Sir?"

"Ahh forgive me Private Alains, in my later years, I developed a habit where I think my thoughts out loud. Helps me focus on what I want to say later. But enough about me, how are you doing today? Is that fellow officer reciprocating your advances? I've seen her, she's got quite the- "

"Captain?! It's not like that, yet, "he said rather sheepishly.

"Ahaha," laughed the elder enjoyably, "You should keep enjoying your youth while you have it. Otherwise, you'll have the rest of your twilight years to spend regretting it."

The Private put on an understanding look.

"Yes sir."

"Now, I wonder, if I'll be able to take a nap after this accursed summit.

"I doubt it sir, that Johansson fellow has been asking for you again."

"Again? Hmm, he is persistent. Well, I guess I'll have to confront him sooner or later, if I am going to find out what he wants from me in the first place."

It has been about a month since the Second Summer of Love, the catastrophic event that nearly wiped out all of Humanity, and the planet the resided on which was revealed to be their mother planet, Earth. It had been orchestrated by the man known as Dewey, who had become the most powerful man in the Federation Military in order to fulfill his deepest desire, the eradication of the life form known as the Scub Corals. Needless to say, it almost brought the world and humanity in 12006 A.D. to an end, if it wasn't for the efforts of two spectacular individuals and their wonderful comrade, although that is another story, for another time.

Captain Nita was a retired military man, long retired for the past 16 or so years. He was reinstated due to the heavy losses the militaries had sustained during the battle against the Antibody Coralions, the self defense mechanism of the Scubs, to help flesh out the remaining military. In the past month or just so, he has come to feel the responsibilities again he had left so long ago. It came to him like a lightly forgotten memory. He enjoyed meeting his personal and boarding his new battleship, even if his position was merely a formality, and even in this dire situation.

The summit, which was to take place on the ruins of the military base of the Capital, that he and one of his personal, Private Baksh Alains, were on their way to attend was the main reason he had been reinstated. The Federation was attempting to restructure and reform, as well as come up with a cover up story or scapegoat to take the blame of the even now called the Second Summer of Love and called upon its highest-ranking members to come up with a democratic contentious. It had been a little over a month since the event, and their attempt. Retired officers were re-instated to help with the process and provide council, as Coda, the sole surviving member of the World Sages of the Sage Council, the executive branch of the military, was nowhere to be found. She had gone missing ever since the Event.

But that is enough information for now on slightly relevant events, as by this point, the two had finally arrived. It was the ruins of a Federation Air base, a large hall where the ceiling had partly collapsed. It was filled to the brim with high ranking officers, Air Naval Ship captains, Land Forces Generals, and bureaucratic Intelligence officers

"Goddamit Nita, you sure took your time!" said a younger Land Forces General.

"Forgive me General Arsen, I must admit, I do not have the youthful energy I once had, and that most of you exhibit."

"Thank you for arriving Captain Nita," said a more grateful member of the chorus, and a apparently it's judiciary, a darkly skinned man of an age appearing about forty, "Now that all of us are here, we can begin the meeting."

"There shouldn't even be a meeting," said another hot-blooded individual, "We know who is to blame, it's Dewey, he is the one who marched us into that fantasy of his."

"And it was rather easy for us to walk into that man's web," said a sly woman with dark coal hair, and sharp glasses, "Apparently there was a big conspiracy and information cover up done by that group of his, the Ageha Squadron."

"Then what should we do? Just blame the dead man, just like the Sages propped up Dr. Thurston to be the messiah he wasn't necessarily to begin with?" Said a Caucasian man with blond hair and green eyes, "Besides, many of the public still regard him as a hero. Say what you will of the man, he was able to cover his tracks, but he was able to move the world into hating the Scubs. What do we do about that? Half the world believed him, and half the world believed those Eco-terrorist guys, the Gekko-State, and their independent magazine Ray=Out. The tensions gonna be thick once the citizenry starts rebuilding, if they aren't already at each other's throats."

"But how do we approach that?" said an idealistic looking captain with oily bald head, "We already look bad now that the Gekko-State has resumed publication of their magazine."

He pulled out several copies of the latest issues of the Ray=Out magazine.

"We've already lost an information war with them, and we didn't even know there was one till two weeks ago," he continued," And some of you wanted to bring them into custody and interrogate them. They were clearly never going to lose any battle we brought to them, they were on the side of the right. I say we save face and join forces with them and try to figure this out with their help. Try to spin some kind of story that doesn't lead with all of us meeting with ropes around our necks."

"Now see here," a gruff and shaggy man stood up to him, "You want us dealing with terrorists? I say we still lock them up. Saviors or not, they have committed billions of war crimes".

The forum grew to a chaos. Shouting voices attempted to shout over others.

"EEEEENNNNOOOOUUUGGGGHHH!" said the Judiciary, bringing the rowdy chorus to a halt.

"Judiciary-General Fayemi, if I may," asked Nita after absorbing the situation.

"Of course, please go ahead."

"If it is alright with all of you, I would like to bring an outside opinion on this matter. Alains, if you will?"

"Sir?"

"What is the meaning of this, that boy is merely a private, are you running away from your duties like before Nita?" said the rather harsh officer from before.

Nita's expression turned dark.

"I will have you know that I trust my personal to hold valid views that we may all benefit from here, thank you kindly," He said sharply, "Now please, go ahead Alains, what do you think is most important now?"

"Well, if you insist sir," said the young officer meekly after being put on the spot, "Well, uh, this may make me sound naïve and idealistic, but the main reason I became a soldier in the Federation Military, was to protect the people I love. My mother and father whom raised me, my siblings whom I grew up with, and even, someone special to me. I think that's what we should do, well, not that exactly but, but-"

"Thank you Alains," Nita said, relieving him of that unenviable position, "I think Private Alains has the right idea in mind. The Military exists to protect the citizens of the Federation, what better time than now to prove that? If I could say, If I were all of you, I would not have wasted time on this amateurish and selfish squabbling, and instead mobilized the forces to provide aid to the citizenry. To help them rebuild, feed and clothe them. Restructuring can wait, until we have at least commanded our forces to provide basic aid to the peoples."

"Have you really gone senile? The people will lose it once they see Federation Ships swooping down on their ruins," said an older woman with graying blond hair and blue eyes, "What if they believe we have come to attack them, they panic, and then another civil war happens?"

Another argument began, but this time it was cut off short by Judiciary-General Fayemi.

"Since we are clearly at another impasse, all we can really do now is vet on what to do now. We'll allow you to vote on what each of you wish to do individually, however, once we count up the votes, the majority vote is the action we will take. So, do not take this as a chance to just push your own agenda. I encourage you all to take sides and work together, so we can finally make some damned progress."

The disgruntled forum wrote down their votes, placing them in a large container at the Judiciary's side.

"Thank you, we will break for now. We will call another summit for when we have finished the tallying. Disperse."

Nita and his man began the trudge back to the Gjallerhorn, the old man yawning again.

"Dear me, that was an unsightly excuse of an event. I'm terribly sorry I dragged you into that mess Alains, just know that I expected your Genius to flourish there. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be as well received as I thought it would."

"It's quite alright sir, just, could I get a warning next time?"

The elder paused for a bit to consider this.

"Sure, only if you keep your promise of not reminding me of how young I really am."

"Yes Sir".

Once they reached sight of the Gjallerhorn,

"You are Captain Nita, I presume?" Said a Caucasian man appearing to be in his late forties or early fifties with coal hair, blue eyes, and a formal version of what was possibly a lab coat.

"Yes, I imagine you must be Dr. Johansson, previous director of the Warsaw Military research unit under the Novak foundation, as well as one of the original staff and participant of the experiments with the Nirvash Type Zero, conducted by Adroc Thurston Nearly 16 years ago?"

"Yes, very astute."

"Yes, well, that was around the time I retired, so I know it very well. What did you want from me?"

"I merely wished to know what the military plans on doing with the remaining Scub Coral? Have they abandoned Colonel Dewey's goal of eradicating it?" the doctor said worriedly.

"It seems so, though in these times who knows for sure. Why do you wish to know, besides him having been your previous benefactor?"

Sighing a bit out of relief, "It was just some… curiosity I had on my own part. I never knew why he hated the Scubs so much, and merely wished to know if they army was going to go through with it".

Those last words were handled a tad more slyly toned, though not expertly done so by the nervous doctor. There was something to this one.

"Well, as I said, it doesn't seem likely. Now excuse me."

"I have one last request, If I may take some more of your time?"

"Out with it," Nita sighed.

"If you don't mind, would you do me the curtesy of allowing me the privilege of boarding your ship? I've been stranded here, I have no way to leave the capital, the Captain who rescued me from the Ginga merely dropped me off here, and I would like to go back home to my home in Johansson," and adding with a small hesitation, "I… I would like to see my daughter again. It has been years since I've last been in the town where I was born, and I doubt she would like to see me again, I would like to see her once more. The Second Summer of love has, well, had me regretting certain actions I've taken in my life.

Nita's lips pursed, and he looked at the man inquisitively. He was unsure of the man's integrity, of the validity or truthfulness in his tale, and if he was genuine in his request. But the more he began to judge the man, Nita merely saw himself standing where the Doctor was, somewhat understanding what could be the closest anyone he knew would come to relate to his own personal demons.

"Well, I do mind. I don't find the idea of ferrying a man who committed such acts such as brutal experiments on war orphans, comforting. However, you are a medical doctor, are you not?"

"I am, after all, besides being a geneticist, physicist, and a technical engineer, I had to be an excellent surgeon in order to be director of my previous offices. It was very demanding work."

"Well then, if there is anything, we can put you to do, its atonement. Whatever outcome of this vote, I'll be launching off on my own, and I'll be having you treat patients everywhere we go. I know how used you may be to handling corpses; I'm expecting you to try your best from creating more of those"

The doctor's face lit up and small tears welled at the edges of his eyes. Wiping them away he spoke with a weak voice, "Ah, well, that is alright with me. But sir, atonement is a hard commodity to obtain in this world,".

Nita stared at him.

"Do you want a lift or not?" he asked sternly.

"Ahh, yes!" Johansson said meekly and in small surprise. He began walking up the ship's boarding ramp.

"Sir, do you really think it's alright for that man to be on our ship? He seems to be, well, loony, or at least, suspicious," Alains advised his captain.

"Yes well, I don't necessarily like the idea, but I'd rather be the one to keep a close eye on him, than let some other tired general let him do what he wants. And if he is being genuine, who am I to prevent a man from going home in these trying times? Even if his past deeds are monstrous, the Lord above will deal with him when the time comes," he reasoned, "now come along, I want to take another nap."

"Yes sir, however, there is another issue that may need your attention."

"Yet another? Goodness. What is this one all about?"

"Well sir, Information Officer Private Jessica Stranling, she reported to me before I was sent to fetch for you, that she had picked up a distress signal from the wastes near Warsaw. Its from a military type LFO, to be more specific, the call sign if from a Monsoon-o type KLF. She had been receiving broadcasts in intervals for the past week, but then it disappeared."

"Well, it seems either the pilot has died or the machine itself stopped functioning. Poor soul. We'll disembark as soon as we can. Perhaps some of the refuges at Warsaw were able to make out of the Debris Impacts."

"Yes sir."

Several Days Later

The Gjallerhorn had flown across the once-cultivated farmlands near Solasteca, and over the half-ruined city. They had been flying for the past five days, ever since the provisionary Federation Army Council ruled in favor the motion of providing relief aid to the surviving cities and Tower-States. Now having landed, the began the long process of providing medical aid, food, and other necessities to the survivors. However, the beacon was still some distance away, the beacon of a military KLF.

Nita stood outside of his ship, observing the survivors as they received individual rations and such, painfully reminding him of his past at Cuidades Del Cielos, where he did the opposite of what he did now. This would not absolve of his past, but he didn't care if it did. Right now, he wanted to do all he could for the people of Solasteca.

"Sir," said a young woman next to him with auburn hair and green eyes, "the military KLF's signal has begun transmitting again. It isn't too far from here. We could send a couple of men out in a jeep to scout the area."

"Thank you Stranling, yes have some men prepared to go. I'll join them, as well as Dr. Johansson will be joining as well. Who knows if we'll find anything, but if we do, they may need medical assistance," Nita said, "And since we have such an esteemed doctor with us, why not give them the best possible treatment? I'll leave Vice-Captain Cotilliea in charge while I'm gone."

"Right Sir," she responded formally.

As he made his way back to the ship, a rather haggard looking man, who may have been younger but looked older, with brown hair and blue eyes came up to him.

"Thank you, sir, for all the help you've brought us," he said gratefully, "I don't know what we would have become of us if you hadn't come when you did."

Nita, slightly stunned at the man's thanks, covered his face with his military cap.

"It is the duty of the military to help those in need in times like these. I'm sorry we could not come sooner," he said sheepishly, through the hat, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go and see if there are any survivors who attempted to leave the city."

Leaving the man behind, Nita made his way to the Gjallerhorn's docking ramp, to meet with the men he would take to find the origin of the distress beacon. On his way, he could see many of his medical officers treating as many of the children, the sick, the wounded, and the elderly. Everywhere he looked, he didn't see the present. He saw the gruesome scenes play repeatedly, of the Voderac Massacre he participated in.

Hearing the honking horns of the car his men were in brought him back to reality. They kept blaring them. They weren't very far away now, they were within

"Captain come on. It'll be sunset if you don't hurry", one of them called out casually.

"I'll be right there," he called back.

He thought to himself that if they could speak to him so casually as his subordinates, then he wasn't doing his job as a military officer. However, now he would not catch them for that. Perhaps they saw him falter for a moment and referred to him casually to distract him from his memories.

Getting into the military standard jeep, Nita sat in the back seat. The younger men filled in the other three seats. Harold, the driver, started up the car and drove it off. Two of the six KLFs that Nita was supplied with followed their jeep, in vehicle form, as added muscle in case they encountered something unsavory. He hoped that they didn't.

The drive was initially dry and awkward for Nita. The Second Summer of Love seemingly having been a global end brought back old feelings and memories he had hidden away; of a past with his wife and children prior to the tragedy of Warsaw and the Cuidad Del Cielo bombings. His men could tell something was wrong with their commanding officer and began to tell small jokes and recount funny stories of past.

"Hey Harold, do you remember the Northshore Incident?" Barton yelled into the wind.

"You mean when Gerardo got stuck in the portable privy? After downing that entire bottle of Adroc Premium?" Harold replied after managing to hear despite the raging winds.

"Hey, it was my Birthday! Was I supposed to be prohibited from enjoying myself?" said the aforementioned Gerardo.

Slightly chuckling, the three attempted to make the drive livelier.

"Yeah, but we drank till, like, 4 am. We were supposed to be back at 6 pm."

"Ah but it was worth spending a few nights in the cell. That Adroc Premium. It's the best."

"Aw man we were so smashed. But I thought we did pretty well in hiding our inebriation? Though that might have been the alcohol tinting my memories."

"I never ordered you to the holding cell. I noticed you had all been drinking and planned on punishing you all with the task of cleaning the ship" Nita interrupted.

Gerardo and Barton looked towards their commander, then back to each other.

"Then how did we end up in the cells".

"I remember now, when we tried sneaking back onto the ship we immediately got caught by the commander. His look of disappointment just came back to me. Fuck." Harold started giggling, "I think we were so scared and ashamed we just sent ourselves to the hold".

"Is that really what happened? Barton asked.

"Sounds like it".

Nita chuckled softly and smiled.

"I thought all of you got off too easy, initially, but after releasing you all I realized you got your just deserts".

"Ah, right, we were shipping off that day. God, the launch still makes me sick", Gerardo gagged slightly.

"The sick all over the floor still makes my stomach churn," Barton groaned as he held his stomach.

"The worst part was that I had to clean up after the two of you, assholes. I should've drank too. But Nooo, I had to be the sober driver, and the 'adult', that time", Harold chided.

The story uplifted the group somewhat, bringing Nita's mind back to the present. Nita began to enjoy his time with the others, not as Commander and Subordinates, but as casual friends. Something he had not had in a long time. The drive continued with stories and jokes, lending to it feeling much shorter than it was. Nita began to show a side of himself that he rarely showed others. It was all well and enjoyable until the moment was broken until they reached their destination.

They could all see from the jeep a couple of yards away that it was a shoddy camp built around a small pond. A wrecked Monsoon-o type made the foundation of a tent, and tin cans littered around a small failure of a fire.

"Banning, take your KLF and fan out a perimeter of the area, look for others."

"Roger."

"Perez, relay back to the ship that we've reached the origin of the distress signal. Get them to prepare beds in the medical ward in case we need them."

"Yes sir."

"Barton, Gerardo, and Harold let's search the perimeter. Don't forget your Medical supplies Harold".

"Of course, sir."

"Understood".

"Alright."

The four split off and readied their guns, in whatever case. Barton and Gerardo covered the opposite the camp and of the pond, whilst Nita and Harold carefully poked into the tent. Inside they found two individuals both appearing to be teenagers; Nita guessed maybe they were both no older than 17. The girl was barely clothed, if one wanted to be generous in calling an emergency blanket as such, and the boy wore the thin undersuit of a KLF pilot's garb. Both of their meager wears were filthy, as if they had been the only things to wear for weeks.

"Sir, their breathing is ragged and weak". It seems they're ill with something. Probably malnourishment, or fever, or both. If they drank from the pond, maybe they've caught dysentery."

"Let's get them to the jeep then," said Nita as he reached for his communicator, "Perez, Banning, report back to the camp. As for you Harold, take the other two and these two back to the ship. I'll stay out here and see what to make of this machine and the others' observations".

A nameless, pale and inhuman boy fell endlessly through the sky; desperately attempting to grasp at the green Trapars flowing through his hands in a vain attempt to prevent the inevitable. The winds screamed in his ears, and the Earth seemed to be coming ever closer; no, it was the boy who was rapidly approaching. He screamed in fear of what was to come and closed his eyes to blind himself from his fate. As soon as he did, however, the screams of the wind turned to laughter, taunting him with humor of an unknown origin until they began directing jeers and sniggers at him. He could not hear his name, no matter how many times the amorphous laughter called him which only made the boy curious in spite of his situation, and so opened his eyes as the Boy could no longer resist in seeing his spiteful audience.

It was the familiar faces of the girls he had failed to save who berated him; berating him for his failures, berating him for wanting to go against fate, berating him for his foolishness which led him to his present situation ,and berating him for his newfound desire to live amongst the humans as one of them. How could he be so naïve that he could believe that life would come so naturally easy to one who did not remember of his past, nor one without any connections to anything, let alone anyone. Then the faces contorted to bastardized and rotten variations of his own.

"We too have tried our hand at resisting our fate… how miserable it is to see one's self try endlessly and fail endlessly."

All the faces but one rotted away. The remainder began to shift painfully and tearfully, into one he could not recognize. It had a short bob of pale blueish-white hair, with yellow eyes with an unusual dual slit iris, and a face that could pass for male or female. A subtle ching-a-ling of a bell could be heard as it spoke in a male's voice.

"Woe to I only to realize that our mistakes will continue to repeat, to bring us further away from the Truth and deeper into the void of time."

The faces then disappeared, and the ground was mere moments away, and the boy let out a ghastly wail as he attempted to cover his eyes, mouth, and ears before colliding with the world. Strangely the boy felt not pain, no impact, and no end. Again, he was deathly curious to see his surroundings, but afraid to see avatars of regret again. That was, until he heard two voices comfort him.

"Thank you, if it wasn't for you, I never would have been born. Thank you, father. One day, I would like to meet you in person", said the first voice, which could have belonged to a child.

"Many hardships will have to be endured. It is not only your fate, but mine. However, I have never stopped having faith in you, and I won't stop now. Your mistakes can be forgiven; you just have to start with forgiving yourself, Yew," said the other voice, appearing to sound older than the first.

He opened his eyes but could not see any person, only the ruined vehicle of his dreams. It was rusted, torn in two so that only the upper torso remained, and its single violet eye trained itself on the boy. There was some familiarity between the machine and the boy, but he could not place where it came from. The machine lifted its remaining intact hand up to the boy to touch, and as much as he attempted, he could not reach it to touch.

"I will be with you always, until our journey is finally over. Only then will I inflict you your last hardship and leave. Until then, be assured that your sorrow will not be carried alone", it spoke whilst fading.

"No matter what form you see me in, I will always be with you, in your soul and your heart", said one last and feminine voice of unknown origin, "So don't be too sad when you can no longer see me."

With those last words, Yew awoke in the sterile surroundings of a medical ward, with an elder man with gray hair sleeping in a chair besides his bed, and across from him another elder man with coal hair attending a girl with unnatural hair.

"Anya" he said weakly as he attempted to reach to her.

Nita awoke due to the noise the boy made as he fell out of his bed. Rushing out of his chair with a vigor he had not had since he was a young man and sprung to help the boy up.

"Careful, you are still recovering; you should be resting in bed and thrashing about!"

"Anya! Anya!"

"Don't worry son. She's fine. Er, well, as fine as she can be now. I mean to say that she's recovering as well. Dr. Johansson says she'll turn out well as long as he can treat her," the gray-haired man said.

"Dr. Johansson?" the boy said as he put is hand on his head, pulsating with slight pain.

Hearing his name, the Coal haired man looked to the boy, and Yew analyzed his face through the pain in his mind. It began to sear for a sharp spike as the image of a stone giant amidst a powerful light flashed in his mind, but as soon as the pain came it went away. After his mind cleared and accepting the Gray man's help Yew took another look at the man.

"No, I don't think I know him."

Upon hearing those words, the doctor's eyes sunk into his soul with a depressed look. Nita noticed this "anti-relief" of Johansson and made note of it to question him later, as he felt doing so now may not yield good outcomes for the health of these children.

All of a sudden Yew's knees went weak, and he would have stumbled had it not been for the Gray man.

"Goodness, what did I say. Rest now, you're safe and among friends."

"Friends?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what that is."

To that Nita did not immediately know how to respond. He had to choose his words carefully.

"That is a concept that a bit difficult to explain. But, how about this; you can consider me a friend."

"You, a friend?"

"Yes."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Charles Nita Baxter. You may call me Captain Nita, as everyone else does. Now get some rest, we can speak later if you have any questions. Should you wake, you may ask the doctor to call for me or for some solid food."

"Ok then, Charles Nita Baxter," said the boy as he returned to the bed and closed his eyes.

Nita turned to look at the doctor, who had just finished injecting the girl with a strange medicine of a blood red color, met his gaze and understood that the man had questions. Nita walked outside and Johansson followed him. Walking far enough away from the medical ward to not be overheard by any conscious patients but close enough to reach it in case of an emergency, Nita stopped and turned to face the doctor.

"You seem to recognize them, who are they? Previous subjects of yours?"

The doctor turned to look at his feet in shame and returned his gaze to the conversation.

"The son returns to his undeserving father", he muttered with a dark and regretful smile, he continued, "Only the boy I can claim to be of my sin. The girl seems to be my successor's handiwork. Although, that boy was before my work on human experimentation with the Novak Foundation. He was a research subject at Tressor, where we were researching another similar subject. A girl who had ben born of the Scubs. Children of the Earth, or 'Saints', the Voderac would call them. My later work by my sponsor was an ill-willed and regretful endeavor to replicate those two."

"So they are what Dewey labeled as Coralians."

"Humanoid Coralian and Artificial Humanoid Coralian to be precise, if not irrelevant now. Children they were, and we made a mistake, I beg you to shelter them now. Children they are still, and a part of my sinful work and legacy whom I must now ensure that they enjoy whatever they have left," the doctor cried. He slowly kneeled and bowed his head to the ground.

"I beg of you sir. Not for my sake, I know my mistakes. But they have suffered enough, and I no longer want them to continue to do so."

Nita looked at the quivering man with a mixture of pity, disgust, and empathy. Did this man expect him to turn away children? Sure, they were almost adults at an adolescent age of probably sixteen or seventeen, but even so, they were still children in Nita's eyes.

"You must surely know my past, Doctor. You know what I've done… and what I've lost."

The doctor could continue crying.

"To think the closest one to understand my guilt would be you. We old men are both sinners. Do you really think I would turn these needful children away? No. They will stay, and if you are true to your word, you will work tirelessly to help them recover and adjust to a life of normalcy."

"Thank you, Nita. Thank you," is all the coal haired man could say.

"Go, continue to look after them."

The doctor did not even reply to that. He walked back whilst attempting to regain composure.

Late that Night

Yew was seated on his bed, unable to sleep due to all the rest he had earlier, he stared out through the small window on the far side of the room. He could make out the rough outlines of clouds in the blackness of what he assumed to be the sky through which the airship sailed. He looked to Anya, asleep and without any indication that she had awoken earlier, but appeared to be breathing and stable. The doctor had not noticed that Yew had stirred, as he seemed to be engrossed with certain papers he'd pulled out of a black leathery object that Yew could not recognize.

"What are those?"

Startled, the doctor dropped the papers. Yew took the chance to look at them. The papers held images of the man at a time when he appeared much younger, embracing a girl with orange-reddish hair and medium tan skin.

"Sorry I hadn't noticed you had awakened," the doctor said nervously as he picked them up, "I was looking at photographs I had taken with my daughter. These were taking long ago as you could probably tell. Did you need something? Food? Did you want to speak to Nita now?"

"Both", the boy replied simply.

"I see. I will acquire those for you," he said as he made his way to the ward's phone, but then came to an abrupt stop and asked, "Do you not remember me?"

"You are the doctor treating Anya, are you not?"

The doctor attempting to hide slight disappointment on his face with a false smile.

"Of course. I merely wished to see if you remembered where you were, ha, ha", he said awkwardly.

He made his way to the phone, and not to long after came Nita with a bowl of vegetable stew and some bread. Placing it on a raised tray in front of Yew, he watched as the boy scarfed it down as if he, and probably had, had not eaten in days or weeks.

"You wished to speak as well?"

"Yes."

"Well, don't be shy to ask what you want. Just, don't choke on your food now."

The boy swallowed the last of his meal.

"Could I have more?"

The captain laughed.

"Of course, Call the kitchen Johansson," he said, continuing, "anything else?"

"What are you going to do with us?" the boy asked quite seriously.

Nita paused for a bit.

"That all depends on what you want. You are more than welcome to tag along on our relief mission to any of our stops, and you can leave at any stop if you wish and are able to physically do so."

Yew looked at the man then to Anya.

"No matter what your decision is, she will be taken care. You both can leave or stay."

He looed back at the man. An emotional pain erupted in his heart and mind of a past want he had long since forgotten emerged once again.

"I… I want to belong. I want to find someplace where we both belong."

Nita paused again and considered an offer that he hoped he would regret making, for their sake. After all, they were technically a military ship.

"You two could stay here. My technicians can work on your machine too. That way, even if you decide to stay, you can leave anytime you want. But if you want a place to belong to, I suppose this ship could be that place."

"This place? I could belong here?"

"If you wish."

Yew looked back out into the blackness, and back to Anya, and back to Nita.

"Can I stay?" he asked with a soft voice.

Nita smiled.

"Of course."

"To Be Continued"


End file.
